IMR tractors in Ethiopia - EUR 12 million worth of agricultural machines shipped to Africa

Industrija Motora Rakovica (Rakovica Engine Industry - IMR), shipped a new batch of tractors for the market of Ethiopia late last week, thus meeting an agreement on the export of EUR 12 million worth of tractors to that African country in the previous year.

IMR CEO Zoran Radosavljevic reiterated in a statement to Tanjug news agency that his company had signed an agreement with the Metec company from Ethiopia two years earlier, adding that the five-year value of that arrangement was EUR 170 million.

- IMR has so far shipped 1,050 tractors to Ethiopia, and the plan for this year is to export another 1,000 tractors or so to that country - said Radosavljevic.

He explained that tractors made by IMR suit the African market because their quality was much higher than those of Chinese and Indian tractors competing in the same market.

- Prices represent the biggest problem in this deal, as our collaborators are trying the best they can to lower the price of the final product by using locally produced parts in the manufacture of tractors - Radosavljevic explained.

Speaking about future plans, Radosavljevic stressed that IMR's decades-long partner from Egypt wanted to renew its cooperation with the Serbian company, adding that the first batch of tractors had already been shipped to that country in the Near East.

As he noted, they are talking with companies in the South African Republic, Namibia and Uganda about the possibilities of opening assembly plants for Serbian tractors in these countries, and IMR and IMT have already signed an agreement with a company from Pakistan to sell licenses to manufacture tractors.

- Our main goal is to set up several factories in Africa and, thus, try to cover the entire market of Africa - Radosavljevic pointed out.

He stressed that IMR enjoyed strong support from the Ministry of Finance and Economy as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Power Engineering in the implementation of all current business arrangements.

IMR currently employs about 850 people, while another 200 workers are engaged occasionally due to an increased volume of work, said Radosavljevic.

Production

Over the past five years IMR has significantly improved its production, increasing its production from only 149 tractors in 2007 to 1,065 tractors in 2012.